VOA标准英语10月-Credit Rating Executives Acknowledge Failures

U.S. lawmakers have accused major credit rating agencies of serious failures in how they assessed mortgage-backed securities and other investments. Executives of major firms, and former employees testified at a congressional hearing, the latest to examine factors contributing to the U.S. financial system collapse¹. VOA's Dan Robinson reports.

Bond rating companies assign grades to a range of investments, including mortgage-backed securities at the heart of the current financial mess.

The role of such firms in financial markets has increased sharply in recent years, along with their profits.
　

Oversight2 and Government Reform Committee Chairman Rep. Henry Waxman (File)

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chairman, Democratic Congressman⁴ Henry Waxman, accuses the firms of colossal⁵ failures asserting they became focused more on profits at the expense of investor⁶ security. "Million of investors⁷ rely on them for independent, objective assessments⁸. The rating agencies broke this bond of trust and federal regulators ignored the warning signs and did nothing to protect the public. The result is that our entire financial system is now at risk," he said.

Criticisms by former employees of two large firms, Standard & Poor's and Moody's, and recommendations for change are resonating on Capitol Hill.

Jerome Fons, a former Moody's managing director of credit policy, says the firms badly missed the impact of falling house prices and declining standards linked to sub-prime mortgages, and he described the atmosphere he says prevailed at Moody's. "In my view, the focus of Moody's shifted from protecting investors to marketing⁹ ratings. The company began to emphasize customer service and commissioned detailed¹⁰ surveys of client attitudes. I believe the first evidence of this shift manifested itself in flawed ratings on large telecommunications firms during that industry's crisis in 2001." he said.

Calling reforms undertaken so far by rating firms inadequate¹¹, Fons urges what he calls sweeping¹² management changes, firing of those associated with issuing faulty ratings, and more transparency and simplicity¹³.

"We were all relatively¹⁴ well-educated and intelligent people and if you couldn't explain it to us, we were real curious how this [mortgage-based] product was enjoying such tremendous success. /// OPT¹⁵ /// And unfortunately anecdotally we were told it was enjoying a lot success because they were selling these bonds in Europe and Asia, and not in the U.S, particularly the lower rated pieces," said Frank Raiter, who was involved in rating mortgage-backed securities with Standard & Poor's until 2005.

Sean Egan, Managing Director of the Egan-Jones credit ranging agency, asserts that major credit agencies knowingly issued grossly inflated¹⁶ and possibly fraudulent ratings. "Issuers paid huge amounts to these rating companies for not just significant rating fees, but in many cases very significant consulting fees for advising the issuers on how to structure the bonds to achieve maximum AAA ratings. This egregious¹⁷ conflict of interest may be the single greatest cause of the present global economic crisis," he said.

Current executives blame the deterioration¹⁸ of the U.S. housing market mainly on a loosening of under-writing standards for sub-prime mortgages.

One after another acknowledged having observed negative trends, but added that they failed to appreciate the size of the problem.

Raymond McDaniel of Moody's, and Steven Joynt of Fitch Ratings:

MCDANIEL: We did not, however, anticipate the magnitude and speed of deterioration in mortgage quality or the suddenness of the transition to restrictive lending [the impact on the credit markets].

JOYNT: We did not foresee the magnitude or the velocity¹⁹ of the decline in the U.S. housing market, nor the dramatic shift in borrowed behavior brought on by the changing practices in the market, nor did we appreciate the extent of shoddy mortgage origination practices and fraud in the 2005 and 2007 period."

Along with Deven Sharma of Standard & Poor's, all expressed regret at the impact inaccurate²⁰ ratings have had on American's investments.

With two weeks to go before the U.S. presidential and election on November 4th, the financial and credit system collapse remains²¹ a dominant²² issue for Republican John McCain and Democrat³ Barack Obama, and has lawmakers seeking re-election worried.

At Wednesday's hearing, Democrat Stephen Lynch and Republican Christopher Shays voiced their disgust:

"LYNCH: I have a lot of people in my district who feel that they have been de-defrauded and they're mad as hell and they think that in light of what has happened to them, someone ought to go to jail, and the more I hear in these hearings I am inclined to agree.

SHAYS: When the referee²³ is being paid by the players, no one should be surprised when the game spins out of control."

House Republicans called Wednesday for a bipartisan commission to supplement investigations²⁴ by Democratic-controlled committees and the Justice Department. "The financial crisis continues, and it cannot wait until the next Congress [for us] to begin action," said California Republican Darrell Issa.

Republicans plan to formally introduce legislation for such a commission when lawmakers return for more legislative²⁵ work on the economy following the presidential election, although it is unclear what traction²⁶ the proposal will have with majority Democrats²⁷.

Republicans also want a special counsel appointed to investigate what they call fraud and mismanagement at two large mortgage firms [Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac] the federal government took control of before the financial market collapse.

1 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

2 oversight   

n.勘漏，失察，疏忽

参考例句：

• I consider this a gross oversight on your part.我把这件事看作是你的一大疏忽。
• Your essay was not marked through an oversight on my part.由于我的疏忽你的文章没有打分。

3 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

4 Congressman   

n.（美）国会议员

参考例句：

• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman.他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。
• The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics.这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。

5 colossal   

adj.异常的，庞大的

参考例句：

• There has been a colossal waste of public money.一直存在巨大的公款浪费。
• Some of the tall buildings in that city are colossal.那座城市里的一些高层建筑很庞大。

6 investor   

n.投资者，投资人

参考例句：

• My nephew is a cautious investor.我侄子是个小心谨慎的投资者。
• The investor believes that his investment will pay off handsomely soon.这个投资者相信他的投资不久会有相当大的收益。

7 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

8 assessments   

n.评估( assessment的名词复数 )；评价；（应偿付金额的）估定；（为征税对财产所作的）估价

参考例句：

• He was shrewd in his personal assessments. 他总能对人作出精明的评价。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Surveys show about two-thirds use such assessments, while half employ personality tests. 调查表明，约有三分之二的公司采用了这种测评；而一半的公司则采用工作人员个人品质测试。 来自百科语句

9 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

10 detailed   

adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。

11 inadequate   

adj.(for,to)不充足的，不适当的

参考例句：

• The supply is inadequate to meet the demand.供不应求。
• She was inadequate to the demands that were made on her.她还无力满足对她提出的各项要求。

12 sweeping   

adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的

参考例句：

• The citizens voted for sweeping reforms.公民投票支持全面的改革。
• Can you hear the wind sweeping through the branches?你能听到风掠过树枝的声音吗？

13 simplicity   

n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯

参考例句：

• She dressed with elegant simplicity.她穿着朴素高雅。
• The beauty of this plan is its simplicity.简明扼要是这个计划的一大特点。

14 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

15 opt   

vi.选择，决定做某事

参考例句：

• They opt for more holiday instead of more pay.他们选择了延长假期而不是增加工资。
• Will individual schools be given the right to opt out of the local school authority?各个学校可能有权选择退出地方教育局吗？

16 inflated   

adj.（价格）飞涨的；（通货）膨胀的；言过其实的；充了气的v.使充气（于轮胎、气球等）( inflate的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）膨胀；（使）通货膨胀；物价上涨

参考例句：

• He has an inflated sense of his own importance. 他自视过高。
• They all seem to take an inflated view of their collective identity. 他们对自己的集体身份似乎都持有一种夸大的看法。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 egregious   

adj.非常的，过分的

参考例句：

• When it comes to blatant lies,there are none more egregious than budget figures.谈到公众谎言，没有比预算数字更令人震惊的。
• What an egregious example was here!现摆着一个多么触目惊心的例子啊。

18 deterioration   

n.退化；恶化；变坏

参考例句：

• Mental and physical deterioration both occur naturally with age. 随着年龄的增长，心智和体力自然衰退。
• The car's bodywork was already showing signs of deterioration. 这辆车的车身已经显示出了劣化迹象。

19 velocity   

n.速度，速率

参考例句：

• Einstein's theory links energy with mass and velocity of light.爱因斯坦的理论把能量同质量和光速联系起来。
• The velocity of light is about 300000 kilometres per second.光速约为每秒300000公里。

20 inaccurate   

adj.错误的，不正确的，不准确的

参考例句：

• The book is both inaccurate and exaggerated.这本书不但不准确，而且夸大其词。
• She never knows the right time because her watch is inaccurate.她从来不知道准确的时间因为她的表不准。

21 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

22 dominant   

adj.支配的，统治的；占优势的；显性的；n.主因，要素，主要的人(或物)；显性基因

参考例句：

• The British were formerly dominant in India.英国人从前统治印度。
• She was a dominant figure in the French film industry.她在法国电影界是个举足轻重的人物。

23 referee   

n.裁判员．仲裁人，代表人，鉴定人

参考例句：

• The team was left raging at the referee's decision.队员们对裁判员的裁决感到非常气愤。
• The referee blew a whistle at the end of the game.裁判在比赛结束时吹响了哨子。

24 investigations   

（正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究

参考例句：

• His investigations were intensive and thorough but revealed nothing. 他进行了深入彻底的调查，但没有发现什么。
• He often sent them out to make investigations. 他常常派他们出去作调查。

25 legislative   

n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的

参考例句：

• Congress is the legislative branch of the U.S. government.国会是美国政府的立法部门。
• Today's hearing was just the first step in the legislative process.今天的听证会只是展开立法程序的第一步。

26 traction   

n.牵引；附着摩擦力

参考例句：

• I'll show you how the traction is applied.我会让你看如何做这种牵引。
• She's injured her back and is in traction for a month.她背部受伤，正在作一个月的牵引治疗。

27 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》